Coal-feeding device



Jam. 20 1925.

T. N. WYNNE COAL FEEDING DEVICE Filed Oct. 25 1922 I 2 Sheets-Sheefc l ATTO EY.

T. N. WYNNE COAL FEEDING DEVICE Sheets-Sheet 2 LEE l mfl g A TTORNE Y.

Patented Jan. .20, 1925.

UNlTED STATES moms NEIL wanna, or mnmnaroms, momma GOAL-FEEDING -nation Application: filed October 25, 1922. Serial n. 596,744.

To all whom it may concord.

Beit known that I, THOMAS NEIL WYNNE,

a citizen of the United States, residin at 1 Indianapolis, in the county of ll l'arionand State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Coal-Feeding Device, ,of Which'the following is a specification.

It is the object of my invention to provlde a simple and efiective device for automatically feeding and distributing coalinto the hopper of an automatic stoker, so that the coal will be uniformly distributed, all parts of the stoker will be amply supplied with coal, the speed of coal-supply to the hopper will be automatically varied with variation in the speed of the stoker, dust will be materially lessened if not substantially eliminatd in" the boiler room, and labor will be saved.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention: Fig. 1 is a front elevation of-a coal-feeding device embodying my invention; Fig, 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragm'ental front elevation of the lower part of the coal-distributing pipe and its operating mechanism, be-

- ing substantially an enlargement of part of Fig. 1; Fig. 1 is a plan of the stoker shown in Fig. 3, with some parts broken away; and Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical transverse sections on the .lines 5 5 and 6'6 respectively of Fig. 3. I The coal for the boiler is fed by gravity from suitable elevated bins (not J shown) usually on an upper floor, through a large vertical header pipe 10, which at its lower end'discharges into a swinging distributing pipe or chute 11 pivotally connected to the lower end of the header pipe on a horizontal. axis 12 perpendicular to the front' face of the boiler 13. The lower end of the distributing pipe or chute 11 discharges into a trough-like hopper .14 which extends across the front face of the fire-box 15 of the boiler 13, which hopper 14 is the hopper of any suitable automatic stoker. As shown, the automatic stoker is of the plunger type, having a horizontal series of plungeis 16 which are reciprocated by a crank-shaft or series of crank-shafts 17 and in their reciprocation push coal from the lower part of the hopper 14 through suitable feed openings 18 into the fire-box 15.- For larger boilers, having a number of plungers 16, there is usually a series of'crank-shaft's, each driving only a few of the plungersyand these separate crank-shafts are separately controlled by suitable clutch and change-speed devices 19,

which receive power by chains from any suitable source of powenf Although it is desirable to have a series of crank-shafts, so

that if a plunger or its connecting rod breaks it can be repaired without stopping the operation of many other plungers, this is not material to my resent invention, and may conform to any esired practice. The stoker as so far described is a standard type 0 stoker. I Prior to my present invention, the swinging pipe 11 .was swung back and forth along the trough-likehopper 14 by a man. This was not only hard work, but resulted in irregular movements of the pipe 11, depending upon the whims of the man whose job;-

it was to push it back and forth; and because of the rests which this man frequently took, the result was that sometimes there would be a lack of coal for some of the plungers 16, and this would be followed by the feeding of great masses of coal into the hopper 1 1 when the man came-back on his job of swinging the pipe 11, making clouds of coal dust which kept the boiler roonrdirty.

My present invention avoids these dificulties, and does away with' the labor of the man whose job was to swing the pi e 11. 1 swing this pipe 11 back and forth a ong the hopper 14L regularly ,and evenly, at a rate which varies with that of the crankshaft l7 or one of the crank-shafts 17 so that the feeding of coal into the hopper and the feeding of the coal from the hopper will vary correspondingly. This not only saves the labor of one man for each boiler, but makes the supply of coal more uniform, avoids both a lack of coal for any plungerand any sudden feeding ofgreat masses of coal, and keeps the boiler room cleaner.

In doing this, ll mount on the front top edge, of the hopper 14 a skeleton frame 25, which extends substantially the whole length of the hop-per and is preferably of substantially triangular cross-section, ,with a vertical face inward. This frame has horizonby mitre gearing 35.

31 and 32 located at the ends of the hopper 14. The shaft 31 has a bearing in a casting 33 suitably Supported on one end of the hopper 14, which casting 33 also provides a bearing for a shaft 34 at right angles to the shaft 31 and drivingly connected thereto A chain 36 connects a sprocket 37 on the shaft 34 to a sprocket 38 on the end of the crank-shaft 17, or one of such crank-shafts 17 as is clear from Fig. 1; so that through this intermediate connect- .ing mechanism the speed of the chain 28 varies proportionately to that of the crankshaft 17 to which it is connected. The shaft 32 is suitably supported at the other end of, the hopper 14 from the shaft 31; and

preferably such support for the shaft 32 is,

an adjustable one for keeping the endless chain ,28 taut and taking up wear therein. Asshown, this adjustment is obtained'by mounting the shaft 32 in a bearing on the upper end of a swinging arm 39, the lower end of which is pivotallv supported between two ears 40 projecting laterally from a verportionately to that of said crank-shaft.

opposite sides of the link 45.

is attached to one link of the chain 28 in anv tical plate 41 bolted to the end of the hopper 14, and an adjusting screw 42 in the swinging arm 39 bears against the vertical plate 41 to provide means for adjusting the swinging arm 39 to tighten the chain 28.

The endless chain 28 is connected to the lower end of the swinging pipe 11 by a link which slot receives a pin 48 carried by the endless chain 28'and provided with suitable shoulders or washers 49 for hearing against The pin 48 desired manner, so that it travels with that link.

In operation, the chain 28 is driven, in the direction of the arrows as shown, whenever its-driving crank-shaft 17 is in operation, and is driven at a speed which varies pro- As the chain 28 moves, the pin 48 travels first to the right along the upper angle-bar 26, then around the sprocket 29, then to the left along the lower anglebar 27, and then around the sprocket 30 back to the angle-bar 26. In this movement, the pin 48 acts through the link 45 to swing the swinging pipe 11 backand forth along the hopper 14. The link 45 always acts as a tension link.

' As the pin 48 approaches either end' of the end of the swinging pipe" 11 to swing back by gravity toward the center of the hopper;

ment of the chain 28 and pin 48 causes the slotted link 45 to swing upward about the pin 46 as a pivot, through thevertical position, and downward on the other side of the vertical, thepin 48 sliding along theslot 47 during this swinging. lVhen this swinging movement of the link 45 is completed and the pin 48 again strikes the outer end of" the slot 47, the link 45" again becomes a tension member, and as the chain 28 and pin 48 continue to move it serves again to pull the lower end ofthe swinging pipe 11. It

' will pull such swinging pipe from the position in which its gravity movement was stopped, through the vertical position, and to its maximum inclined position on the other side of said vertical position, or until the pin 48 passes around the sprocket 29 or 30 which it is approaching; after which the swinging pipe 11 is swung back by gravity, and the cycle above described will be repeated. This makes a regular swinging movement of the swinging pipe 11 \along the hopper 14, with intermissions at intermediate points as the tension link 45 swings over from one oblique position to the other.

Preferably I provide an idler sprocket 50 for supporting and guiding the upper part of the endless chain 28 as it approaches the sprocket 29. This idler sprocket 50 is carried by a pivot pin 51 ,vertically adjustable in a-slot 52 in a plate 53 suitably riveted or otherwise fastened to the two angle-bars 26 and 27, as is clear from Figs. 3 and 6. The horizontal flange ofthe upper angle-' bar 26 is cut away at the sprocket 50 to allow such sprocket to project through into co-operative relation with the chain 28. This sprocket serves to hold the chain 28 against substantial twist as it approaches the sprocket 29, which twist may otherwise occur because of the off-center pull of the link 45 on the pin 48 and the rather wide angle between the link 45 and the chain 28 when the pin 48 is approaching the sprocket 29.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a swinging coal-feeding member for feeding coal into and distributing it along said hopper, a driving shaft for movable back and rth along said hopper, means for movingsaid member from said driving shaft, and a link connecting said alink connecting said member and said chute.

3. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a swinging chute having its lower end arranged to sweep back and forth along said hopper to feed coal into said hopper and distribute it iof the stoker, and a link therealong, a driving shaft, a member movable back and forth along said hopper, means driven from said driving shaft for moving said member, and a slotted link connecting said member and said chute.

4. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a swinging chute having its lower end arranged to sweep back and forth along said hopper tofeed coal into said hopper and distribute it therealong, a driving shaft for said stoker, a member movable back and forth along said hopper, means driven from said driving shaft for moving said member, and a slotted link connecting said member and said chute.

5. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal into said hopper and to swing back and forth to distribute the coal along the hopper, a member movable back and forthalong said hopper, means for moving said member at a speed proportionate to that of the operation ivotally mounted on said chute, said link being provided with a slot which engages said member.

6. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal into said hopper and to swing back and forth to distribute the coal along the hopper, an endless belt extending parallel to the plane of the swinging of said swinging chute, means for driving said belt at a speed proportionate to that of the stoker operation,-

i and a link connecting a point on said belt to a point on said swinging chute.

7. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal into said hopper and to swing back andforth to distribute the coal along the hopper, an endless belt extending parallel to the plane of the swinging of said swinging chute, means for driving said belt, and a link connecting a point on said belt to a point on said swinging chute.

8. In combination with an automatic,

stoker, and. a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal into said hopper and to swing back and forth to distribute the coal along the hopper, an endless belt extending parallel to the plane of the swinging of said swinging chute, means for driving said belt, and a link con; necting a point on said .belt to a point on said swinging chute, said link having a slotted connection with at least one of the parts which it interconnects.

9. In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal 1I1tO said hopper and to swing back and forth to distribute the coal along the hopper, an endless belt extending parallel to the plane of the swinging of said swinging chute, means for driving said belt, and a connecting member connecting a point on said swinging chute to a point on said belt for swinging said chute when the belt is driven.

10. --In combination with an automatic stoker, and a hopper therefor, a hopperfeeding chute arranged to feed coal into said hopper and to swing back and forth to distribute the coal along the hopper, an endless belt extending parallel to the plane of the swinging of said swinging chute, means for driving said belt, and a connecting member connecting a point on said swinging chute to a point on said belt for swinging said chute when the belt is driven, said connecting member being arranged to act always in tension in transmitting force from said belt to said swinging chute. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Indianapolis, Indiana, this twenty-third day' of October, A.- D. one

THOMAS NEIL WYNNE. 

